John-for-Life 2017: Week #1 Success

Okay. I accomplished my New Year's Resolution last year and dropped 30 pounds. I did did it by April. This year my goal is to drop another 30 pounds. I gained 5 pounds the rest of 2016. So, the sum total, if I succeed, will be 55 pounds. So, that's the goal. I think goals are good.

You know how there's commercials for weight loss products claiming they'll give you you're money back if you don't lose five pounds in the first week. Well, it's almost guaranteed, if you're not dieting and want to lose weight, that you probably at least have 2-3 pounds of food in your stomach. If you eat the recommended calories for the week, you should lose 2 pounds over that.

So, based on this theory, I set a high goal of 5 pounds for week #1. Of course, I did take my first free day on my birthday, which was Wednesday. So..... No matter. Today. Goal Accomplished. Yay. I also drank plenty alcohol on my birthday and still lost 5 pounds for the week

Hope you folks are feeling good to end week #1 also!!!!!

The easy way to lose five pounds

So you have all these marketing campaigns to help people lose weight, and their advertisements say that they will give you your money back if you don't lose 5-6 pounds in the first week.  I have learned from my own personal experience that this is almost automatic.  If you are way overweight and you eat healthy for a week, you WILL lose at least five pounds. 

Technically speaking, if you don't lose five pounds in a week and you think you are eating healthy, then you probably aren't eating healthy. If you don't lose weight, it's your own fault -- so you shouldn't get your money back.  But it's a gimmick, you see.

Just to give an example, six days ago I wrote about my challenge for the remainder of 2015 to do the John for Life program.  This past week I have been busting my butt to do as much physical activity that I can, and I haven't even given 100% effort in any one of my workouts. Plus I have had more than the recommended cheat meals, and I have had a couple whiskey and cokes two of the past six days.  

However, other than that, most of my meals have been of the healthy variety.  I eat a small meal of a protein and a carbohydrate every 2-3 hours.  If I work night shift, sometimes I eat every 2-3 hours for a 24 hour period.  

So you'd think I would have gained weight, right? Wrong!  Just as I planned, I have lost five pounds in the first weekj.  If I were doing one of those weight loss gimmicks, I would be out of luck.  Plus I would probably have to starve myself, which would result in me crashing and failing.

I have learned that you can lose weight while eating all the foods you love, so long as you do so responsibly. You ideally should exercise, but you should be aware of the fact that exercising has little to do with weight loss.

John for Life

Cartier park's bike path

Okay, so in the past I have been very healthy.  My wife and I first did the Body for Life Program (BFL) in 2002 with the hopes of looking good in our wedding pictures.  We did two successive 12 week programs, and by May 4, 2003, we were both looking fit and thin for our pics.  I have evidence of this.

But then life happens.  Once we were settled into married life we had Callie. So when you're wife gets pregnant, you gain weight with her.  So my wife and I had to once again do the body for life to, once again, lose 40 pounds.  So by 2004, when we moved to our new home, I personally was 180 pounds and looking and feeling good.  

In fact, I remember running laps around Cartier Park's scenic paths with ease.  

Of course then we had Laney and Myles.  There was a five year gap between Callie and Laney so we were both able to maintain our weight loss.  For about five years I weighed around 180 pounds, which is an ideal weight to maintain for me (like you care).  

So I gained weight once again with Laney.  Then we lost some, but then came Myles.  I promised myself this time I wouldn't gain weight with her, and I succeeded.  But then the burden of having two kids resulted in me getting over 200 pounds again.  

Yep, that's life.  Life with four kids is not the same as life with no kids, or even life with one kid.  I have many friends who have one kid and are able to stay in shape, and I only have a few friends who have three or four kids who are thin.  The reason, I am now convinced, is because it's hard to do.  Married life, and kids, make it hard to stay in shape.  

Some people just accept this as a fact and they go about their lives.  They just go to Walmart and buy larger clothing (fat clothes).  They go to McDonalds or Burger King and enjoy foods that make them happy.  They are normal.  

But then you have people like me.  I don't want to refer to myself as abnormal, but I probably could.  With a lung disease, I find that once I get beyond a certain weight life becomes increasingly difficult -- I should say that breathing becomes increasingly difficult.  As you may know if you follow my posts, fat tissue may actually cause and trigger asthma. 

On January 1, 2015, I made a New Year's Resolution that I was once again going to get in shape.  So every Monday I start, and by Tuesday something happens where I fall off the wagon.  Sometimes it's a friend asking me if I want to go out for a beer, sometimes it's stress from work, and sometimes it's something else. Either way, I keep falling off.  

So here I am on June among the 92% of people who fail to keep their New Year's Resolution.  Yet then I started thinking: the year is not over.  So I calculated it out that if I lose 6 pounds in week one of the BFL -- which I like to call John for Life (JFL) , and I lose two pounds a week (minus a week for hunting camp and a week for a Florida vacation) I can easily (with a lot of hard work -- lol) achieve my New Year's goal.  

I have written about the benefits of exercise more than once. Now it's time to get back on the path to enjoying those benefits once again.  Here's wishing good luck to myself on my journey